Andrea Petkovic upsets Jelena Jankovic in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The local crowd at Stuttgart, Germany was in for another surprise as the 19thranked German, Andrea Petkovic outclassed the world number eight Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand
Prix, played at the Porsche Tennis Arena on Wednesday. The 23-year-old German concluded victory at 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, to oust Jankovic from the $721,000 WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) tournament.
The crafty German pinched her second straight victory over Jankovic this year, previously beating the Serb in the quarter-finals at Miami. It was Petkovic’s 21st victory in the running year, extending the head-to-head
lead against Jankovic to 2-0 in front of her home crowd. The unseeded German dropped the opening set of the contest to Jankovic but recovered with greatly mastery in the later parts of the game to take the match away.
“I always compare myself with a diesel engine. I need time to get going then everything’s fine,” said the winner in her post match reviews, “At any other tournament I wouldn’t have the strength to fight my way back into it, but
with this fantastic crowd, you simply can't let up. You find reserves even when you think you've got nothing left.”
The in-form Serb had a brilliant start to the game, clinching the first set with ease but gradually lost her steam as the match proceeded. Jankovic played good error-free tennis in the opener but couldn’t control her errant strokes
in the later sets, coughing six double faults in the last two sets to let the German away to victory.
Petkovic competed well in the first set, registering two serve breaks but the Serb overcame her by stinging four break points. Jankovic sealed the opener at 6-3 to get on top of her competitor but couldn’t carry on the momentum
in the following sets. Petkovic’s served brilliantly with 78 per cent precision and nabbed 11 of 18 first serve points in the second set to transfer the pressure upon the Serb opponent. She amazingly belted four serve breaks out of six opportunities she had
and took the second set at 6-1 to level the contest with one set a piece.
With the local crowd chanting at her back, Petkovic continued displaying magnificent tennis skills to push Jankovic out of the contest. The Serb coughed four double faults in the third set alone to exacerbate her position in the
matchup. Petkovic finally closed out the contest at 6-3 to step into the quarter-final draws of the tournament, where she will be taking on the world number one Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. The top seed Dane blew away the lucky loser from Slovakia, Zuzana
Kucova, in the second round to reach the quarter-finals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
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